Mining

Mining
US rare earths rally as China turns screws on supply
Shares of United States rare earths and critical mineral miners traded higher on Thursday after China tightened restrictions on exports, with Beijing now requiring foreign entities to obtain a license to export products that contain rare earths worth 0.1% or more of the goods’ value. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, companies will also need export licenses if they use China’s extraction, refining or magnet recycling technology. China chose to tighten restrictions on rare earth exports ahead of an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Seoul, South Korea, later this month. While rare earths have underscored trade talk tension between Beijing and Washington for some time, the former dominates the global rare earth supply chain – leaving the U.S., along with the rest of the world, overly reliant on limited supply from China. Underpinning that tension are White House and the U.S. critical mineral industry claims that China is deliberately manipulating its market dominance to make foreign competition economically unviable. Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals that are necessary for U.S. weapons platforms, robotics
Mining
US govt secures 10% stake in Trilogy, S32 Alaskan copper
The United States Department of War has secured a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals (NYSE: TMQ, TSX: TMQ) through a US$35.6 million investment targeting Alaska's Ambler Mining District. Ambler's mineral wealth gives Washington direct exposure to copper, cobalt, zinc and lead deposits that have sat stranded for decades. The transaction, announced yesterday, sees the Pentagon taking stakes in both Trilogy and its Ambler Metals JV partner, BHP (ASX: BHP) spinoff South32 (ASX: S32). Funds are earmarked for exploration and development of the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects within Ambler - home to some of the world's highest-grade copper deposits and other critical minerals. "This is a significant milestone for Trilogy and for the development of a secure, domestic supply of critical minerals for America in Alaska,” Trilogy CEO Tony Giardini said. The deal structure includes $17.8 million flowing directly to Trilogy for 8.2 million units at $2.17 per unit, with each unit carrying three-quarters of a 10-year warrant. Another $17.8 million goes to South32 to purchase its existing Trilogy shares, plus a call option for an additional 6.1 million shares at $0.01 each. Both the warrants and call option become exercisable once the c
Mining
Australian critical mineral miners, Uncle Sam wants you
The Trump administration has rolled out the welcome mat for Australian miners, and this time, they're bringing United States taxpayer equity capital to the table. China controls 86% of the rare earths processing market globally, and when Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing responded by restricting exports of rare earths and permanent magnets - on top of other strategic metals. It was a hammer blow to Western industries, as they're essential inputs for carmakers, semiconductors, clean energy technologies and weapons systems. And, as one of its closest allies, Australia and its wealth of rare earths and other strategic metals have suddenly become central to America's economic trade war with Beijing. Vis-à-vis, the U.S. government has offered to buy stakes in Australian critical minerals companies as part of a funding package designed to expand domestic supply and cut reliance on China, according to executives who recently returned from meetings in Washington and New York. "U.S. government officials were saying to companies, you come to us with a proposal and we'll assess it and try and make it work through those various funding channels and programs that we have available to us," Andrew Worland, CEO of Int
Mining
Mission Critical: Pentagon MP stake a strategic blueprint
Analysts and mining executives now say the Pentagon's July investment in rare earths producer MP Materials could serve as a blueprint for interventions in other critical element sectors like lithium, changing how Washington supports domestic extraction against Beijing's dominance. The July arrangement made the Defense Department MP Materials' largest shareholder at 15% - for a tidy US$400 million - with a couple of caveats. The government pays MP the difference when rare earths prices fall below US$110/kg for its neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, but carves out 30% of the upside when values exceed that threshold. NdPr prices jumped 40% in the wake of the deal.Erm… why is that?Glad you asked. For decades, China has systematically dismantled any rare earth competition anywhere around the world through aggressive industrial policies. It began in the mid-1980s, when Beijing issued export tax rebates that allowed Chinese miners to undercut foreign competitors. This basically exploded China's annual production from 8,500 tonnes in 1985 to 48,000t 10 years later. When American producer Molycorp attempted to reopen the shuttered Mountain Pass mine in 2010, China relaxed its export quotas and flooded the market with ch
Mining
Does Bristow departure put Barrick's Mali chaos to rest?
Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX, NYSE: B) confirmed the immediate departure of president and CEO Mark Bristow on Monday, ending a near seven-year tenure marked by strong returns but overshadowed by its catastrophic Mali dispute. The 66-year-old South African will be replaced on an interim basis by Mark Hill, a 20-year company veteran currently overseeing Latin American and Asia Pacific operations. The miner has provided no explanation for the exit, and the timing caught markets off guard. Bristow told analysts in May he planned to remain until 2028 to oversee Reko Diq, Barrick's massive copper-gold project in Pakistan. "This is clearly an abrupt transition," BMO Capital Markets analyst Matthew Murphy wrote, noting media reports had historically discussed succession planning but nothing imminent.From Randgold founder to merger architectBristow built his reputation founding Randgold Resources in 1995, growing it from West African exploration roots into a FTSE 100 gold producer. When Barrick acquired Randgold for US$6.5 billion in 2019, the smaller company's CEO took the helm of what was then the world's largest gold producer by output. Bristow promised to restructure an industry he'd once criticised for operating “at a lo

Mining
Mission Critical: Trump flexes US sovereign wealth fund
The global pursuit of critical minerals is accelerating and is now a central focus of competition between nations to control the materials required for modern technologies. It's nothing new, yet increasingly, government policies are shifting from letting market forces raise the capital to direct financial intervention, using sovereign wealth funds (SWF) to build supply chains independent of China. The Middle Kingdom has monopolised the production, refinement and manufacturing of copper, nickel, lithium, rare earths and more into advanced tech for crucial industries such as defence and automaking. Corporations like China-backed Zijin Mining have catapulted to the top of a sector long dominated by the likes of BHP (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO). Those at the top, backed by SWFs, will influence the global green energy transition and determine our future economic and national security.Government equity stakesThe financial scale and strategic execution of companies like Zijin present a significant challenge to Western efforts to diversify supply chains. Frugality is no longer the accepted policy in Washington, and the Trump administration has put its chips on the table. Back in February, President Trump signed Execu
Mining
Freeport shares dive on Grasberg declaration
Freeport-McMoRan Inc shares fell almost 17% after it made a force majeure declaration over its giant Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia in the wake of a fatal accident. The company said it had found two employees who died, and continued to search for five who remained missing, following the incident on 8 September in which a rush of mud blocked access and prevented evacuation from the underground mine. Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE: FCX) shares closed $7.69 (16.95%) lower at $37.67, capitalising the company at US$54.09 billion (A$82.17 billion), on Wednesday (Thursday AEST). Freeport-McMoRan said its 48.4% owned PT Freeport Indonesia Operations (PTFI) unit was investigating the cause of the accident in which about 800,000 tonnes of mud flowed rapidly into the underground mine where the team members were working. Mining in the Grasberg district has been suspended to prioritise the search, and the investigation was expected to be completed by year-end 2025. “As a result of the incident and impacts on operations, PTFI is notifying commercial counterparties of a force majeure in accordance with the provisions of its contracts,” the company said in a news release. Force majeure is a legal clause that means a comp
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Anglo, BHP cut nearly 1,000 jobs in Queensland
Queensland’s mining sector has been dealt another blow after Anglo American and BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) announced nearly 1,000 job cuts across the state. Anglo American said it had conducted a review in response to "ongoing market pressures" and confirmed more than 200 staff had been affected, mainly at its Brisbane office but also across Central Queensland operations. Vice president Ben Mansour said a significant portion of the cuts had been made through voluntary redundancies, including among workers at the Grosvenor underground coal mine, which has remained closed since a fire in June last year. "A substantial proportion of reductions have been achieved through voluntary redundancy, and we are committed to supporting our people through this transition with access to outplacement services and wellbeing support," he was reported saying in a statement. "For more than a year, we've worked to protect the jobs of our Grosvenor workforce — including redeploying roles to our other underground operations. "The phased nature of the re-entry work, carried out in close co-ordination with regulators, means we are now in a position to engage unions and our Grosvenor enterprise agreement workforce in a voluntary redundanc
Mining
US govt taps Orion for US$5bn critical minerals splurge
The United States government is preparing to launch a US$5 billion (A$7.48 billion) critical minerals fund through its International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), partnering with New York investment firm Orion Resource Partners to challenge China's control over supply chains, according to Bloomberg. China processes most of our world's copper, rare earths and antimony, leaving Western supply chains exposed to Beijing's economic coercion - which is being strategically weaponised in the U.S.-China trade war. Read more: Mission Critical: The gravity of China's rare earths bans DFC funding could be expedited at pace to support research, exploration and mine development as the West races to catch up to China's technological leads. Beyond that, it faces market headwinds too, which point to shortages of key metals due to falling ore grades, under-investment and slow permitting processes across Western jurisdictions (including Australia). Key catalysts:China accounts for ~70% of global rare earth production and 87% of rare earths refining capacityMarket share of the top three refining nations rose from 82% in 2020 to 86% in 202490% of supply growth came from single suppliers: Indonesia for nickel, China for cobalt,